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Sport

Zverev, Tsitsipas and Swiatek reach last eight in Rome

Second seed Alexander Zverev reached the last eight of the Rome Masters with a straight sets victory ver Alex de Minaur from Australia. AP - Andrew Medichini

Second seed Alexander Zverev and fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas both advanced on Thursday to the quarter-finals at the Rome Masters while the women's top seed Iga Swiatek racked up her 25th consecutive win.

Zverev saw off the unseeded Australian Alex de Minaur 7-6, 6-3 while for the second day in a row, Tsitsipas needed three sets to overcome an adversary.

On Wednesday, Tsitsipas saved a match point on two separate occasions during his victory over Grigor Dimitrov.

On Thursday, he came from a set down to beat the unseeded Russian Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 in just under two hours.

"I was able to improve my game in the second and third set," said the 23-year-old Greek.

"I concentrated on getting the ball to land deep and I was able to stay calm while I was serving taking time to visualise the patterns I wanted to play.

"The last two matches haven't been easy but as long as I'm able to find ways to win ... that's what matters most."

In the women's draw, Swiatek, the defending champion, saw off Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-1 to notch up her milestone.

The 20-year-old Pole edged a tight first set against the former world number one.

But after trading games in the second set, Swiatek ran riot to wrap up the victory in just over an hour.

During her winning sequence, Swiatek has claimed titles at Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Stuttgart.

Two years ago, she became the first player from Poland to claim a title at a Grand Slam tournament when she won the French Open in Paris.

Following the retirement of world number one Ashleigh Barty, Swiatek rose to the top of the women's game and is likely to arrive in Paris as hot favourite for the 2022 French Open crown.

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